Methods and systems for generating holistic airline schedule recovery solutions accounting for operations, crew, and passengers

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for generating a recovery scheduling solution in response to a scheduling disruption are disclosed. A method includes receiving a request to modify an original schedule operations solution based on disruptive events, computing a flight recovery solution to reschedule disrupted flights, generating a crew recovery solution using the flight recovery solution that includes covered and uncovered flights by assigning flight crews to rescheduled disrupted flights, iteratively generating recommendations to delay or cancel uncovered flights until a best recovery solution is obtained, the best recovery solution including a crew recovery solution with a least amount of uncovered flights, iteratively generating, by the processing device, subsequent flight and crew recovery solutions based on the recommendations, generating a passenger recovery solution based on the best recovery solution and re-assigning disrupted passengers to the rescheduled disrupted flights, and configuring the airline recovery scheduling solution.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present specification generally relates to methods and systems forgenerating airline recovery schedule solutions and, more specifically,methods and systems for generating airline recovery schedule solutionsthat are feasible and reduce costs to recovery from a disruptive event.

BACKGROUND

In general, airlines face disruptions to their regular schedulingoperations daily due to many reasons, such as aircraft maintenanceissues, inclement weather, air traffic congestion, and/or securityreasons. Upon an occurrence of one or more disruptions, an airline'sflight schedule for the day and beyond can become disrupted.

Methods and systems for providing an airline recovery schedulingsolution that reduces airline cost and improves crew and passengersatisfaction would benefit airlines and passengers alike when suchdisruptions occur.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect, a method for generating an airline recoveryscheduling solution in response to an airline scheduling disruptionincludes receiving, by a processing device, an airline recoveryscheduling solution request to modify an original airline scheduleoperations solution based on one or more disruptive events associatedwith one or more airline flights, wherein the one or more disruptiveevents causes the airline scheduling disruption, computing, by theprocessing device, a flight recovery solution, based on the one or moredisruptive events, to reschedule one or more disrupted flights,generating, by the processing device, a crew recovery solution using theflight recovery solution by assigning one or more flight crews to one ormore rescheduled disrupted flights, wherein the crew recovery solutionincludes one or more covered flights and one or more uncovered flights,iteratively generating, by the processing device, one or morerecommendations to delay or cancel the one or more uncovered flightsuntil a best recovery solution is obtained during an iteration period,wherein the best recovery solution includes a crew recovery solutionwith a least amount of uncovered flights over the iteration period,iteratively generating, by the processing device, one or more subsequentflight recovery solutions and one or more subsequent crew recoverysolutions based on the one or more recommendations to delay or cancelthe one or more uncovered flights in order to solve for the bestrecovery solution, generating, by the processing device, a passengerrecovery solution based on the best recovery solution and re-assigningone or more disrupted passengers to the one or more rescheduleddisrupted flights, and configuring, by the processing device, theairline recovery scheduling solution using the best recovery solution,the flight recovery solution, and the passenger recovery solution inorder to determine and transmit the airline recovery scheduling solutionto one or more airports with the one or more disrupted flights.

In a second aspect, a disruption management module includes a flightrecovery module configured to receive a request for an airline recoveryscheduling solution from an airline scheduling system and compute aflight recovery solution based on one or more disruptive events andreschedule one or more disrupted flights. The disruption managementmodule further includes a crew recovery module in communication with theflight recovery module, the crew recovery module configured to receivethe flight recovery solution to solve for a crew recovery solution byassigning one or more crews to one or more rescheduled disrupted flight,the crew recovery solution including one or more covered flights and oneor more uncovered flights. The disruption management module furtherincludes an uncovered flights adjustment module in communication withthe crew recovery module and configured to receive the crew recoverysolution, wherein the uncovered flights adjustment module iterativelygenerates one or more recommendations to delay or cancel the one or moreuncovered flight until a best recovery solution is obtained during aniteration period, wherein the best recovery solution includes a crewrecovery solution with a least amount of uncovered flights over theiteration period, wherein the flight recovery module and the crewrecovery module iteratively generate one or more subsequent flightrecovery solutions and one or more subsequent crew recovery solutionsbased on the recommendation to delay or cancel the one or more uncoveredflights in order to solve for the best recovery solution. The disruptionmanagement module further includes a passenger recovery module incommunication with the crew recovery module to receive the best recoverysolution to generate a passenger recovery solution and re-assign one ormore disrupted passengers to the one or more rescheduled disruptedflights of the best recovery solution in order to configure the airlinerecovery scheduling solution and transmit the airline recoveryscheduling solution to one or more airports with the one or moredisrupted flights.

In a third aspect, an airline operations system includes an airlinescheduling module configured to compute and transmit an airline scheduleoperations solution to at least one airport having an aircraft to followa flight plan associated with the airline schedule operations solutionand request an airline recovery scheduling solution upon a detection ofone or more disruptions to one or more airline flights. The airlineoperations system further includes a disruption management module incommunication with the airline scheduling module to receive the requestfor the airline recovery schedule solution, the disruption managementmodule configured to compute the airline recovery scheduling solutionusing a recovery solution formulated based on one or more iterativelygenerated flight recovery solutions and one or more sequentiallygenerated crew recovery solutions, wherein the one or more iterativelygenerated flight recovery solutions is configured using one or moreiteratively generated recommendations to delay or cancel one or moreuncovered flights of one or more crew recovery solutions in order tosolve for a best recovery solution, and wherein the disruptionmanagement module is further configured to transmit the airline recoveryscheduling solution to the airline scheduling module.

Additional features and advantages of the aspects described herein willbe set forth in the detailed description, which follows, and in partwill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from thatdescription or recognized by practicing the embodiments describedherein, including the detailed description, which follows, the claims,as well as the appended drawings.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description describe various embodiments and areintended to provide an overview or framework for understanding thenature and character of the claimed subject matter. The accompanyingdrawings are included to provide a further understanding of the variousembodiments, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of thisspecification. The drawings illustrate the various embodiments describedherein, and together with the description serve to explain theprinciples and operations of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments set forth in the drawings are illustrative and exemplaryin nature and not intended to limit the subject matter defined by theclaims. The following detailed description of the illustrativeembodiments can be understood when read in conjunction with thefollowing drawings, where like structure is indicated with likereference numerals and in which:

FIG. 1 schematically depicts an illustrative airline operations systemof an airline operations control center organization (AOCC) that canpractice one or more embodiments shown and described herein and is incommunication with one or more airports to reschedule one or moredisrupted flights during one or more disruptive events;

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of an illustrative AOCC system used bythe AOCC of FIG. 1, according to one or more embodiments shown anddescribed herein;

FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of various internal hardware componentsof a disruption management module, according to one or more embodimentsshown and described herein;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram depicting an example disruptionmanagement module using one or more software module components to accessand utilize one or more of the hardware components of FIG. 3, accordingto one or more embodiments shown and described herein;

FIG. 5 depicts a flow chart of an illustrative method of optimallyrescheduling airline flights caused by one or more disruptive events,according to one or more embodiments shown and described herein;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative logical block diagram implementing amethod of optimally rescheduling one or more airline flights caused byone or more disruptive events according to one or more embodiments shownand described herein; and

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative logical block diagram implementing amethod of rescheduling airline flights caused by one or more disruptiveevents, according to one or more embodiments shown and described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for generatingairline recovery scheduling solutions. The methods and systems enablecommercial airlines to generate an optimal airline recovery schedulingsolution based on iteratively searching for an optimal or best flightand crew recovery solution found over a period of time.

When an airline disruption occurs, airline-scheduling personnel mustdevise a new schedule that meets constraints imposed by the disruption,a process known as schedule recovery. The airline schedulers provide aflight operations recovery schedule by rerouting aircrafts, delaying andcanceling flights, re-assigning crews to flights, and reroutingpassengers. Additionally, it requires multiple iterations to obtain aflight operations recovery schedule before being implemented by theairlines. The process for developing a flight operations recoveryschedule is currently developed manually. Additionally, this manualprocess is time consuming and cumbersome, and may not represent the mostefficient, cost effective, passenger-friendly, and/or crew-friendlymeans of rescheduling flights. It should be appreciated that this manualprocess also results in sub-optimal airline operations and significantlyincreases the cost of operating airlines, which are frequently pressuredto find new ways to cut costs.

For example, in the United States, national airspace congestion isresponsible for over 50% of the schedule disruptions. Aircraft subsystemfailures resulting in unplanned maintenance and other airline relatedissues account for over 40% of the disruptions. Inclement weather andsecurity-related issues account for the rest of the disruptions. Mostdisruptions are known with little lead time resulting in flight delays,cancellations, ferried aircraft, along with crew and passengermisconnections. A crew misconnection occurs when there is a break in oneor more connections for original crew pairings or crew duty periods. Apassenger misconnection occurs when there is a break in one or moreconnections of a passenger's original flight schedule or itinerary.

The various embodiments described herein may provide benefits to airlineoperation systems by generating an airline recovery scheduling solutionbased on selecting and rescheduling one or more flights with a minimalnumber of breaks in original crew pairings and a minimal number ofbreaks in original passenger connections. Rescheduling flights thatcause a minimal number of breaks in original crew pairings and a minimalnumber of breaks in original passenger connections reduces airlinecosts. One reason for this reduced cost is that mending or creating newcrew pairings is often difficult to repair once a crew pairing is brokenand expensive because breaking a crew pairing may cause one or more crewmisconnections for the reminder of the journey.

Another benefit may include generating a faster and more accurateairline recovery scheduling solution because the embodiments disclosedherein limit a number of iterations to search for a best version of anairline scheduling recovery solution based on a least number of flightcancellations and a least amount of delays for each delayed flight.Still another benefit may include providing a passenger recoverysolution that ensures that passengers are not delayed more thannecessary in making their connecting flights, which in turn is a costbenefit because passengers are not missing as many connecting flightsand needing to be rerouted to different flights. One more benefit toimplementing one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein includesgenerating a flight recovery solution and a crew recovery solution thatis feasible without manual intervention.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown an example-operating environmentthat includes an example of an airline operations system 10. In someembodiments, the airline operations system 10 includes one or moreaircrafts 12, one or more airports 14, a communications network 18, andan Airline Operations Control Center (AOCC) 16 operating an AOCC system20.

The one or more aircrafts 12 may include one or more planes that carriesone or more passengers and/or goods. The one or more aircrafts 12 may beconnected to the communications network 18 and in communication with theAOCC 16, via the AOCC system 20, and the one or more airports 14.

The one or more airports 14 may include one or more facilities to storeand maintain one or more aircrafts 12. The one or more airports 14 mayinclude one or more network computers (not shown). Each airport 14 maybe configured to with a bilateral communications link in order tocommunicate with the AOCC 16, via the AOCC system 20, and the one ormore aircrafts 12.

The communications network 18 may include any suitable datacommunication, telecommunication, wired, wireless, or other technologyfor facilitating communications. The communications network 18 may beused to connect any number of devices, systems, or components, includingone or more networking computers are not specifically described herein.For example, the communications network 18 may use one or more of alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless localarea network (WLAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a personal areanetwork (PAN), a virtual private network (VPN), the internet, a cellularnetwork, a paging network, a private branch exchange (PBX), and/or thelike. Data sent via the communications network 18 may be encrypted orunencrypted.

In some embodiments, the AOCC 16 may include a command, coordination,and control center for an airline with the one or more airports 14. Inone or more embodiments, the AOCC 16 may integrate one or more diverseprocesses relating to passenger, baggage, cargo, and aircrafts 12. In atleast one embodiment, the AOCC 16 may be responsible for transmittingand communicating the airline scheduling solution to the one or moreairports 14 and the one or more aircrafts 12. In other words, the AOCC16 may be responsible for providing, transmitting and/or displaying theairline scheduling solution to personnel at the one or more airports 14,the one or more aircrafts 12 and one or more related airline entities(not shown).

In one or more embodiments, the AOCC 16 provides each aircraft 12 with apredetermined planned route to fly with one or more passengers aboardhaving diverse itineraries with various connecting flights to conveythem from a source airport to a destination airport. Prior to anaircraft's departure, the one or more airports 14 or the one or moreaircrafts 12 may experience one or more disruptive events caused by atleast one or more of: aircraft maintenance issues, inclement weather,air traffic congestions, and/or security issues.

In some embodiments, the AOCC system 20 of the AOCC 16 is electronicallyoperated and maintained by the AOCC 16 or by another entity. In oneembodiment, the AOCC system 20 may monitor each of the aircraftmaintenance issues, inclement weather, air traffic congestions, and orsecurity issues by receiving updates and notifications from the one ormore airports 14 and the one or more aircrafts 12. Additionally, theAOCC system 20 may monitor weather data and air traffic management datato determine or detect if the data reaches or falls below or above apredetermined threshold. In one or more embodiments, the AOCC system 20,the aircraft 12 and/or airport 14 may identify, determine and/or detectan occurrence of the one or more disruptive event that may cause a delayor cancellation by using one more networking systems (not shown) such asa maintenance system of an aircraft, weather system surrounding a nearbyairport, or a problem with air traffic management data. Morespecifically, the AOCC system 20 may monitor the airline schedulingsolution in real time to detect and/or determine whether one or moreflights are on time or delayed and any related reasons and causes forany delayed or canceled flights.

Still referring to FIG. 1, in general, the AOCC system 20 may generatean airline scheduling solution and transmit and/or display the airlinescheduling solution to one or more airports along with one or moreaircrafts 12. In some embodiments, the AOCC system 20 may constantly andcontinuously monitor data and information related to each airport 14 andaircraft 12 for the one or more disruptive events and receive a signalor notification indicating the occurrence of one or more disruptiveevents along with descriptions to identify specifically the one or moredisruptive events. In at least one embodiment, the AOCC system 20 mayautomatically generate an airline recovery scheduling solution inresponse to the one or more disruptive events.

Referring to FIG. 2, the AOCC system 20 may include routines, programs,objects, devices, modules, components, data structures, and/or the likethat have the technical effect of performing particular tasks orimplementing particular data types by machine-executable instructions,such as program codes executed by machines in the communications network18. Machine-executable instructions represent examples of codes forexecuting the methods disclosed herein.

As shown in FIG. 2, in some embodiments, the AOCC system 20 may includean airline scheduling module 22 communicatively coupled to a disruptionmanagement module 24. In one embodiment, the airline scheduling module22 may develop an airline scheduling solution and continuously monitorsthe airline schedule operation to determine or detect the occurrence ofone or more disruptions, as described in greater detail herein. Inreturn, in some embodiments, the airline scheduling module 22 mayrequest that the disruption management module 24 provide an airlinerecovery scheduling solution to compensate for the disruptions.

In some embodiments, the airline scheduling module 22 may includeroutines, programs, codes, instructions, objects, components, datastructures, etc. perform particular tasks that can be implemented bymachine-executable instructions stored in a data storage device (notshown), and executed and processed via one or more processors (notshown) and a memory component (not shown).

In some embodiments, the airline scheduling module 22 may generate theairline scheduling solution as described herein. In one or moreembodiments, the airline scheduling solution may sequentially solve forthree operations: the flight schedule operations, the crew scheduleoperations and the passenger schedule operations. During the flightschedule operations, the airline scheduling module may schedule aplurality of airline flights and assign specific aircraft for everyairline flight (commonly called a tail assignment). After the flightschedule operation has been determined, the airline scheduling module 22may transmit and/or display the flight schedule and begin the crewscheduling operations.

During the crew scheduling operations, the airline scheduling module 22may define crew duty periods or crew pairings that will cover all of theairline flights for a specific period of time. Next, the airlinescheduling module 22 may assign specific crewmembers to the crewpairings and transmit the crew scheduling operations.

In some embodiments, the airline scheduling module 22 may initiate, anytime after the flight schedule is transmitted, the passenger scheduleoperations. In doing so, the airline scheduling module 22 may receivepassenger data for specific aircrafts 12, wherein each passenger isassociated with one or more purchased airline tickets for one or moreseats on the airline flight and is assigned to a specific airline flightand aircraft 12 associated with the purchased airline tickets for thepassenger in one or more embodiments. In one more embodiments, theairline scheduling module 22 may begin assigning passengers to the oneor more aircrafts after the crew scheduling operations are complete. Insome embodiments, the airline scheduling module 22 may update thepassenger schedule up until passengers begin boarding onto an airlineflight and transmit and/or display the passenger schedule any timebefore and/or during boarding.

Once the airline scheduling solution has been sent, the airlinescheduling module 22 may monitor the airline scheduling solution todetermine the occurrence of one or more disruptive events that mayaffect the airline schedule and thereby, cause flight delays and/orcancellations.

In one or more embodiments, the occurrence of one or more disruptiveevents may include, but is not limited to, any one or more of thefollowing: cancelled flights, delayed arrival flights, delayed departureflights, enroot delays, crew delays, crew no shows, passenger delays,aircraft malfunctions, air traffic control, adverse weather conditions,and the like. While monitoring one or more of the disruptive events, theairline scheduling module 22 may determine or detect an occurrence ofthe one or more disruptive events via a notification from the one ormore aircrafts 12, the one or more airports 14 or real-time monitoringof one or more parameters such as the inclement weather conditions orair traffic control or the like. In at least one embodiment, after theone or more disruption events occurs, the airline scheduling module 22may transmit a request or signal, to the disruption management module24, for the airline recovery scheduling solution. The airline schedulingmodule 22 will be discussed in further detail below.

Now referring to FIG. 3, a block diagram of an example disruptionmanagement module 24 in accordance with some embodiments is provided. Inone or more embodiments, the disruption management module 24 may be acomputing device of the airline operations system 10 and may be in theform of electronic hardware components that may be located throughoutthe airline operations system 10. In some embodiments, the disruptionmanagement module 24, for example, may be associated with other devicesfor implementing the processes disclosed herein.

In one or more embodiments, the disruption management module 24 mayinclude communication devices 25, a processor 26, a memory component 28,data storage devices 30, output devices 27, input devices 32, and alocal communication bus 33 along with any and all of the hardware,software, and firmware associated with the AOCC system 20 or any of oneor more networked computers (not shown) associated with the airlineoperations system 10. In one or more embodiments, the disruptionmanagement module 24 may include any and all of the hardware, software,and firmware associated with the airline scheduling system to performany of the functionality of its application. In some embodiments, thedisruption management module 24 may include routines, programs, codes,instructions, objects, components, data structures, etc. that performsparticular tasks that can be implemented by machine-executableinstructions stored in the data storage devices 30, and executed andprocessed via the processor 26 and the memory component 28.

In some embodiments, the communication devices 25 may be configured toreceive and/or transmit data communications via the communicationsnetwork 18 to another device or system, such as the airline schedulingmodule 22 (e.g. other examples include, but not limited to anadministrator device or client device, not shown) and transmitinformation and data to the processor 26 and the memory component 28.

In some embodiments, the processor 26 may include one or more CentralProcessing Units (CPUs) in the form of a one-chip microprocessors or amulti-core processor. The processor 26 may be coupled to and incommunication with, via the local communication bus 33, the memorycomponent 28, the communication devices 25, the output devices 27, andthe data storage devices 30. The processor 26 may perform and implementthe instructions of the disruption management module to operate therebyin accordance with any of the embodiments described herein. Thedisruption management module 24 may be stored in a compressed,uncompiled, and/or encrypted format. Program instructions for thedisruption management module 24 may include other program elements, suchas an operating system, a database reporting system, and/or other devicedrivers used by the processor 26 to interface with, for example, aclient, an airline administrator, and other devices (not shown in FIG.3)

In some embodiments, the memory component 28 may include one or more RAMmemory modules. In some embodiments, the input devices 32 may includeone or more input devices 32, such as a touchscreen, a mouse, akeyboard, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the output devices 27may include one or more output devices 27, such as a computer monitordisplay (e.g. LCD display), a touchscreen display, a printer, a scanner,a fax machine or the like.

In some embodiments, the data storage devices 30 may include anappropriate information storage device, including machine-readablemedia. In one or more embodiments, the machine-readable media mayinclude RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage,magnetic disk storage, solid state drives, semiconductor memory devicesother magnetic storage devices or any other medium that can be used tocarry or store desired program code in the form of machine-executableinstructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer or other machine with the processor26. In one or more embodiments, when information is transferred orprovided over a network or another communication connection (e.g.hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired and wireless) to amachine, the machine properly views the connection as a machine-readablemedium, thus, any such connection is properly termed a machine-readablemedium. In one embodiment, combinations of the above are also includedwithin the scope of machine-readable media.

In one or more embodiments, the data storage devices 30 may storeprogram code or instructions to control an operation of the databaseengine to generate a flight recovery solution that is based on selectingand rescheduling one or more disrupted flights having a minimum numberof breaks in the one or more original crew pairings and a minimum numberof breaks in the one or more original passenger connections of anoriginal airline scheduling solution. In some embodiments, the datastorage devices 30 may include data used by the airline operationssystem 10, in some aspects, in performing one or more of the processesherein including individual processes, individual operations of thoseprocesses, and combinations of the individual processes, and theindividual process operations.

In one or more embodiments, the data stored in the data storage devices30 may include fight related data. In one or more embodiments, theflight related data may include but not limited airline real-time andprojected traffic management information data, disrupted flightinformation, and the like. In some embodiments, the airline trafficmanagement information data may include airborne air traffic, airportstatus, demand information for aircrafts 12 arrivals and departures,traffic management plans, airport special events, etc.

In one or more embodiments, the data stored in the data storage devices30 may include crew related data. In some embodiments, the crew relateddata may include data related to one or more on-duty crews, reservedcrews, standby crews, start times, stop times, crew pairings,itineraries, salaries, and the like. In one or more embodiments, thedata stored in the data storage devices 30 may include passenger relateddata. In some embodiments, the passenger related data can include datarelated to one or more passengers, passenger connections, cost ofpassenger's flights, and passenger itineraries, and the like.

In one or more embodiments, the data stored in the data storage devices30 may include data related to airports, airlines, route information,plane information, country codes, airline timetable or flight schedule,airfares, flight tracking data, historical data, etc.

In some embodiments, the data stored in the data storage devices 30 mayfurther include constraints data. In one or more embodiments, theconstraints data may include one or more conditions or controls that maygovern, limit and/or effect how one or flights or one or more crews maybe scheduled. In one or more embodiments, the constraints data mayinclude one or more constraints related to conditions and limitationsregulating to flight time, duty time and required rest for crew members,aircraft maintenance schedules, crew member qualifications, crewvacations, crew bid requests, labor agreements, airline rules (e.g.pairing experienced crew members with more junior crew members andreturning crews to their base at the end of their trip) and/or theoccurrence of one or more disruptive events. In one embodiment, aconstraint may include a condition that each selected reserve crew mustbe deadhead or travel in time to meet connection time requirements. Insome embodiments, a constraint may include a condition that all flightsmust either be delayed or cancelled. In one or more embodiments, anotherconstraint may include a condition that each uncovered flight must beassigned a reserve crew or cancelled as in one or more embodiments.

In one or more embodiments, for example, the data may comprise apersistence layer of a data system and store one or more objectives, oneor more constraints, one or more flight recovery solutions, one or morecrew recovery solutions, an airline scheduling solution, and/or one ormore airline recovery scheduling solutions in accordance with one ormore embodiments described herein.

As disclosed herein, information may be received by or transmitted to,for example, the airline scheduling module 22 from another device,system, a software application, or module within the airline operationssystem 10 from another software application, module, device, system, orany other source.

As shown in FIG. 4, an example block diagram of the disruptionmanagement module 24 may further include one or more subroutines,databases or modules, such as a constraints database 34, a world datafile database 36, a flight recovery module 42, a crew recovery module44, an uncovered flights adjustment module 46, and a passenger recoverymodule 48. In one or more embodiments, the world data file database 36and the constraints database 34 may be located and stored within thedata storage devices 30. In some embodiments, the flight recovery module42, the crew recovery module 44, the uncovered flights adjustment module46, and the passenger recovery module 48 may be located and stored inthe memory component 28.

In some embodiments, the flight recovery module 42 is communicativelycoupled to the crew recovery module 44. In at least one embodiment, thecrew recovery module 44 in return is communicatively coupled to theuncovered flights adjustment module 46. In some embodiments, theuncovered flights adjustment module 46 is communicatively coupled to thepassenger recovery module 48 and the flight recovery module 42.

In one or more embodiments, the flight recovery module 42 may beconfigured to receive input from the one or more input devices 32 and/orthe communication devices 25 of the disruption management module 24, viathe local communication bus 33. In some embodiments, the flight recoverymodule 42 may utilize and include at least a portion of each of thecommunication devices 25, the processor 26, the memory component 28, thedata storage devices 30, the input devices 32 along with any and all ofelectronic hardware, software, and firmware associated with and locatedthroughout the airline operations system 10 to perform any of thefunctionality of its application. In some embodiments, the flightrecovery module 42 may include routines, programs, codes, instructions,objects, components, data structures, etc. to perform one or moreparticular tasks that can be implemented by machine-executableinstructions stored in the data storage devices 30, and executed andprocessed via the processor 26 and the memory component 28.

In some embodiments, the crew recovery module 44 may be configured tocommunicate with the flight recovery module 42, via the localcommunication bus 33. In some embodiments, the crew recovery module 44may utilize and include at least a portion of each of the processor 26,the memory component 28, the data storage devices 30, the localcommunication bus 33, and the input devices 32 along with any and all ofthe hardware, software, and firmware associated with the airlineoperations system 10 to perform any of the functionality of itsapplication. In some embodiments, the crew recovery module 44 mayinclude routines, programs, codes, instructions, objects, components,data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks that can beimplemented by a program including machine-executable instructionsstored in the data storage devices 30, and executed and processed viathe processor 26 and the memory component 28 via the local communicationbus 33.

In one or more embodiments, the uncovered flights adjustment module 46may be in the form electronic hardware components are located throughoutthe airline operations system 10. In some embodiments, the uncoveredflights adjustment module 46 may utilize and include the processor 26,memory component 28, the data storage devices 30, the input devices 32along with any and all of the hardware, software, and firmwareassociated with the airline operations system 10 to perform any of thefunctionality of its application. The uncovered flights adjustmentmodule 46 may receive input from one or more of the input devices 32 andthe communication devices 25 of the disruption management module 24. Theuncovered flights adjustment module may receive flight data and crewdata from the data storage devices 30. In some embodiments, theuncovered flights adjustment module may be configured to output anairline recovery scheduling request along recommending delaying orcancelling one or more uncovered flights.

In one or more embodiments, the passenger recovery module 48 may be incommunication with the uncovered flights adjustment module 46. Thepassenger recovery module 48 may be in the form electronic hardwarecomponents are located throughout the airline operations system 10. Insome embodiments, the passenger recovery module 48 may utilize andinclude the processor 26, the memory component 28, the data storagedevices 30, the output devices 27 along with any and all of thehardware, software, and firmware associated with the airline operationssystem 10 to perform any of the functionality of its application. Thepassenger recovery module 48 may receive data from the uncovered flightsadjustment module 46, the constraints database 34, and the world datafile database 36, and transmit data via the output devices 27 and thecommunication devices 25.

In one or more embodiments, the constraints and the world data filedatabases 34, 36 may each include a relational database, amulti-dimensional database, an extendable Markup Language (XML)document, or any other data storage system storing structured and/orunstructured database. In one or more embodiments, the constraints andworld data file databases 34, 36 may include a distributed databasesystem having data distributed among several relational databases,multi-dimensional databases and/or other data sources, an objectoriented database, a hybrid database, and other types of databasemanagement systems including an in-memory database system that can beprovided in a “cloud.” In one or more embodiments, the constraints andworld data file databases 34, 36 may be stored in the data storagedevices 30. In one or more embodiments, the world data file databases 36may include the flight related data, the crew related data, and thepassenger related data. In some embodiments, the constraints database 34may include the constraints related data.

Now referring to FIG. 5, an example flowchart illustrating an examplemethod 100 of the example system for generating an airline recoveryscheduling solution using the example disruption management module 24 isshown. At block 110, the disruption management module 24 may beconfigured to receive a request for an airline recovery solution via thecommunication devices 25 from the airline scheduling module 22. Theairline scheduling module 22 may continuously monitor the airlineschedule for any kind of disturbances that may affect an originalairline schedule. Once one or more disturbances are observed, reportedor detected by one or more airports 14, one or more aircrafts 12, or theairline scheduling module 22, the airline scheduling module 22 maytransmit the request for an airline recovery scheduling solution to thedisruption management module 24 in order to modify the original airlinescheduling solution based on an occurrence of the one or more disruptiveevents.

In one or more embodiments, the disruption management module 24 mayreceive the request for the airline recovery scheduling solution tomodify the airline scheduling solution in response to an airlinescheduling disruption. In doing so, in some embodiments, the disruptionmanagement module 24 may solve for the airline recovery schedulingsolution by sequentially solving for a flight recovery solution, a crewrecovery solution, and a passenger recovery solution. Alternatively, thedisruption management module 24 may solve for the airline recoveryscheduling solution by simultaneously solving for the flight recoverysolution and the crew recovery solution, then solving for the passengerrecovery solution.

In some embodiments, in block 120, the disruption management module maygenerate, using the processor 26 and the memory component 28, a flightrecovery solution and a crew recovery solution based on the request forthe airline recovery scheduling solution and the occurrence of the oneor more disruptive events. More specifically, the disruption managementmodule 24 may be configured to retrieve flight data from the world datafile database 36 of the data storage devices 30, via the localcommunication bus 33, and compute, generate, and/or formulate a flightrecovery solution, using the processor 26 and the memory component 28.In one or more embodiments, the flight recovery solution may include oneor more rescheduled flights that were affected by the one or moredisruption events in order to modify the original airline schedulingsolution. In rescheduling the one or more disrupted flights, thedisruption management module 24 may delay or cancel one or more of thedisrupted flights.

After computing the flight recovery solution, the disruption managementmodule 24 may sequentially generate, compute, and/or formulate a crewrecovery solution, using the processor 26 and the memory component 28,based on the flight recovery solution and the crew related data storedwithin the data storage devices 30. The disruption management module 24may generate, using the processor 26 and the memory component 28, thecrew recovery solution by assigning one or more disrupted crews to oneor more rescheduled flights. In at least one embodiment, the crewrecovery solution may include covered flights and uncovered flights. Insome embodiments, a covered flight may include a rescheduled flight withan assigned crew. In one or more embodiments, an uncovered flight mayinclude a rescheduled flight without an assigned crew.

In some embodiments, at block 130, the disruption management module 24may iteratively generates one or more recommendations for delaying orcanceling uncovered flights and transmit one or more requests forsubsequent airline recovery scheduling solutions along with one or moreiteratively generated recommendations. More specifically, in at leastone embodiment, the disruption management module 24 may receive the crewrecovery solution and determine whether the crew recovery solution isfeasible. In some embodiments, if the crew recovery solution containsuncovered flights, then the disruption management module 24 maydetermine that the crew recovery solution is not feasible because, ingeneral, any flight without an assigned crew cannot be flown. In someembodiments, if the disruption management module 24 determines there areone or more uncovered flights, the method 100 proceeds to block 140.

At block 140, the disruption management module 24 may iterativelygenerate one or more subsequent flight and crew recovery solutions basedon the iteratively generated recommendations and determine a bestrecovery solution for the airline recovery scheduling solution. The bestrecovery solution may include a crew recovery solution along with acorresponding flight recovery solution having rescheduled flights withthe least amount of delays for one or more delayed flights and the leastamount of flight cancellations over an iteration period. The iterationperiod may include a predetermined start time for the beginning of anoptimization process until a predetermined end time for ending theoptimization process has been reached or a maximum iteration value hasbeen reached. The disruption management module 24 may continue to searchfor the best recovery solution, using the processor 26 and the memorycomponent 28, by iteratively generating recommendations and the one ormore subsequent flight and crew recovery solutions in a closed loopuntil the crew recovery solution includes only covered flights and/or aniteration threshold is reached. Using the best recovery solution, thedisruption management module 24 may generate a passenger recoverysolution based on the best recovery solution such that the disruptionmanagement module 24 may assign one or more disrupted passengers to theone or more covered flights. After generating the passenger recoverysolution, the disruption management module 24 may formulate the airlinerecovery scheduling solution using the best recovery solution and thepassenger recovery solution and proceed to block 150.

At block 150, the disruption management module 24 may transmit theairline recovery scheduling solution to the airline scheduling module22, one or more airports 14 and/or one or more aircrafts 12.

Now referring to FIG. 6, a flowchart is provided in order to provide amore detailed discussion of the one or more embodiments of a method 200using the airline operations system 10. At block 210, in one embodiment,upon indication of the occurrence of the one or more disruption events,the airline scheduling module 22 may transmit the request for theairline recovery scheduling solution to the flight recovery module 42.The airline scheduling module 22 may transmit the request for theairline recovery scheduling solution based on a notification from theone or more aircrafts 12, the one or more airports 14, and/or areal-time detection of one or more delayed or cancelled flightsindicating the occurrence of the one or more disruption events.

At block 220, the flight recovery module 42 may be configured to receiveone or more requests, via the communication devices 25, for an airlinerecovery scheduling solution to modify an original airline operationsscheduling solution to meet new constraints imposed by the occurrence ofone or more disruptions. Once the request is received, the flightrecovery module 42 electronically retrieves and, using the processor 26and the memory component 28, reads flight data and non-fly crew data ofthe world data file database 36, via the local communication bus 33. Indoing so, in some embodiments, the flight recovery module 42 may delayone or more previously scheduled flights and determine a delay amountassociated with one or more delayed flights. In one embodiment, theflight recovery module 42 may determine whether one or more of thedisrupted flights may be canceled, and if necessary, cancel one or moreof the disrupted flights. In at least one embodiment, the flightrecovery module 42 may swap any aircraft 12 with another aircraft 12. Inone embodiment, the flight recovery module 42 may determine whether oneor more ferries may be used. In some embodiments, the flight recoverymodule 42 may add one or more flights to the flight recovery solution.In other words, based on the flight data, the constraints and anyobjective functions, the flight recovery module 42 may reschedule one ormore disrupted flights by delaying, cancelling, swapping, and orferrying the one or more disrupted flights.

In one or more embodiments, using the data for flight delays, flightcancellations, aircraft swaps, ferries and the constraints, the flightrecovery module 42 may also configure one or more cost of alternativesolutions for delaying or canceling the one or more disrupted flights.In one embodiment, the costs may include flight costs and crew costs. Insome embodiments, the flight costs may include airport cost of approachand taxing, service costs, an average maintenance costs for a type ofaircraft, fuel cost, etc. In one or more embodiments, the crew costs mayinclude an average or real salary cost of select crews, hotel costs, andextra-crew travel costs. Knowing each of the above-mentioned costsallows the flight recovery module to select the most cost efficient andproductive flight recovery solution that provides for the most efficientuse of resources in order to recover from the one or more disruptions tothe original airline scheduling solution. One of the goals of an airlineis to run a cost efficient model. Thus, in general, the most costeffective model may be selected as the flight recovery solution.

Using the flight data, cost data, and the constraints data, the flightrecovery module 42 generates, compiles, and formulates, using theprocessor 26 and the memory component 28, the flight recovery solutionhaving one or more rescheduled flights that were affected by the one ormore disruptive events. For example, the flight recovery solution mayinclude one or more flight delays, one or more flight cancellations, oneor more added flights, and one or more swapped flights. After solvingfor the flight recovery solution at block 220, the flight recoverymodule 42 may transmit, using the processor 26 and the memory component28, a request for a crew recovery solution along with the flightrecovery solution, via the local communication bus 33, to the crewrecovery module 44 at block 230.

At block 230, the crew recovery module 44 may receive, using theprocessor 26 and the memory component 28, the request for the crewrecovery solution and the flight recovery solution, via the localcommunication bus 33, then solve, using the processor 26 and the memorycomponent 28, for the crew recovery solution based on the flightrecovery solution. The crew recovery solution may be solved byre-assigning one or more disrupted flight crews to one or morerescheduled flights, and transmitting, using the processor 26 and thememory component 28, the crew recovery solution to the uncovered flightsadjustment module 46, via the local communication bus 33 and the method200 proceeds to block 240.

At block 240, the uncovered flights adjustment module 46 may save theflight and crew recovery solutions as a best recovery solution in someembodiments. In one or more embodiments, the uncovered flightsadjustment module 46 may optimize and/or improve the flight recoverysolution by iteratively searching for one or more flight and crewrecovery solutions to identify the best recovery solution over aniteration period until the iteration maximum value is reached. Theiteration period may include a period of time from which the iterationvalue is incremented from 0 to 1, the start of the optimization process,until either the iteration value is reset to 0 or the iteration valueexceeds the maximum iteration value, the end of the optimizationprocess. In one embodiment, the best recovery solution may include asaved crew recovery solution having a greatest number of coveredflights, a least amount of flight delays, a lowest number ofcancellations and no uncovered flights. In some embodiments, theuncovered flights adjustment module 46 may compare a saved best recoverysolution to a subsequent crew recovery solution to determine whether thesubsequent crew recovery solution includes less delay amounts fordelayed flights, fewer flight cancellations than the saved crew recoverysolution, and no uncovered flights.

Upon receipt of the crew recovery solution, the uncovered flightsadjustment module 46 compares, using the processor 26 and the memorycomponent 28, the crew recovery solution to the saved best recoverysolution. The best recovery solution may include a combined recoverysolution having previously determined flight and crew solutions producedand saved during a same iteration count. If there is no previously savedcrew recovery solution, the uncovered flights adjustment module 46 maysave received flight and crew recovery solutions as the best recoverysolution and determines whether an iteration value has reached themaximum iteration amount.

Once the best recovery solution has been saved at block 250, theuncovered flights adjustment module may determine whether the iterationvalue has reached it maximum at block 250 in some embodiments. If no,then the method 200 proceeds to block 260. If yes, then method 200proceeds to block 300.

At block 260, the uncovered flights adjustment module 46 iterativelysearches for the best recovery solution by determining whether theiteration value is equal to 0 or a predetermined number. If no, thenproceed to block 270. If yes, then proceed to block 280. In one or moreembodiments, in order to search for the best recovery solution, theuncovered flights adjustment module 46 determines whether to invoke adelay model at block 270 or an optimization model at block 280. In someembodiments, if the iteration value is not equal to 0, the uncoveredflights adjustment module 46 may invoke the delay model and proceed toblock 270. In one or more embodiments, the delay model may includeidentifying and obtaining all uncovered flights in the crew recoverysolution, incrementing a delay value for all of the uncovered flightsand formulating a recommendation based on the delayed model for each allof the uncovered flights.

In some embodiments, if the iteration value equals to 0, the uncoveredflights adjustment module 46 may invoke the optimization model andproceed to block 280. In at least one embodiment, at block 280, theoptimization model may include identifying and obtaining one or moreuncovered flights in the crew recovery solution, generating a set ofpotential deadhead flights, generating a set of reserve/standby crewsthat can be assigned to the one or more uncovered flights with orwithout deadheading to an origin station of the one or more uncoveredflights and formulating a recommendation for each of the one or moreuncovered flights whether to delay or cancel each of one or moreuncovered flights. A crewmember may be deadheading if a crewmember isflying in a passenger seat and not working as part of an assigned crewfor a specific flight, such that the crewmember is being reposition bythe airline as part of the workday. A cost of deadheading may include acost associated with having the crewmember assigned to a flight as apassenger instead of being a working member of the flight.

In some embodiments, the uncovered flights adjustment module 46 mayinclude an optimizing model component for modeling one or more scenariosfor delaying uncovered rescheduled flights with the reserved crew and/orthe standby crew. In one embodiment, the optimizing model component mayuse one or more algorithms to process an incoming flight and crewrecovery solutions to generate, calculate, and determine whether tocancel or delay one or more uncovered flights. The one or morealgorithms may include using a mathematical program or simulation, suchas an orchestration math program, where the particular optimizationalgorithm executed by the uncovered flights adjustment module may dependon a user specific selection or preference, a complexity of theoptimization being performed or a combination thereof. In one or moreembodiments, the orchestration programming solver may determine whethera delay or cancellation is needed for each of the uncovered flights. Inone embodiment, in providing a recommendation to modify a flightrecovery solution for the uncovered flights, orchestration math programsolver may minimize a cost collection of delay cost, cancellationscosts, deadheading costs.

In some embodiments, using data for uncovered flights, reserve andstandby crews, and one or more scheduled flights to deadhead one or morereserve and standby crews, the orchestration math program solver maycompute the recommendation for each of the uncovered flights thatincludes an optimal delay or cancellation configuration that will allowthe subsequent flight recovery solution to include a maximum number ofrescheduled flights with assigned crews using the reserve and/or standbycrews. In at least one embodiment, for each recommended delayed flight,the uncovered flights adjustment module 46 may also determine a delayamount associated with each delayed flight.

At block 290, the uncovered flights adjustment module 46 may formulate arecommendation based on the delayed model for all of the uncoveredflights and transmits the recommendation along with a request, using theprocessor 26 and the memory component 28, for an airline recoveryscheduling solution to the flight recovery module 42. Along with therecommendation, the uncovered flights adjustment module 46 may produce arequest for a subsequent airline recovery scheduling solution withdelayed and/or cancelled flight recommendations to be transmitted to theflight recovery module 42.

Using the request and recommendations, the flight recovery module 42starts to repeat and proceed to block 220 using the request and therecommendations to produce a subsequent or second flight recoverysolution and transits the subsequent or second flight recovery solutionto the crew recovery module 44. Again, at block 240, the crew recoverymodule 44, in turn, solves and transmits a subsequent or second crewrecovery solution.

In some embodiments, the uncovered flights adjustment module 46, theflight recovery module 42, and the crew recovery module 44 may beconfigured in a closed loop feedback system until the maximum iterationvalue is reached; the output of the uncovered flights adjustment module46 is an input to the flight recovery module 42; in turn, the output ofthe flight recovery module 42 is an input to the crew recovery module44; and the output of the crew recovery module 44 is an input to theuncovered flights adjustment module 46. The output of the uncoveredflights adjustment module 46 provides feedback into the flight recoverymodule 42 and the flight recovery module 42 may re-determine the flightrecovery solution or a subsequent flight recovery solution using therecommendation to delay or cancel any uncovered flight rescheduled basedon a previous flight recovery solution. Likewise, output of the flightrecovery module 42 is an input into the crew recovery module 44 and isused to produce a subsequent crew recovery solution. The output of theflight recovery module 42 is once again inputted into the uncoveredflights adjustment module 46 until the maximum threshold has beenreached. Once the maximum threshold is reached, the uncovered flightsadjustment module 46 transmits the best recovery solution wherein thebest recovery solution includes a crew recovery solution generated,calculated or determined to have a least amount of cancellation flightsand a least amount of delay for one or more covered delayed flightsbased on the minimized cost of a collection of costs over the period oftime.

At block 300, in some embodiments, the passenger recovery module 48 mayreceive the best recovery solution and assign one or more disruptedpassengers previously scheduled on one or more covered flights and solvefor the passenger recovery solution. At block 310, the passengerrecovery module 48 may publish the airline recovery scheduling solution.More specifically, the passenger recovery module 48 may generate, store,and transmit the airline recovery scheduling solution based the bestrecovery solution and the passenger recovery solution to other devices(such as a display), the one or more airports 14, one or more aircrafts12, and/or one or more systems (e.g. a database management system, theairline scheduling module 22).

While the above-mentioned examples use reserved/standby crews todetermine recommendations for uncovered rescheduled flightdelays/cancellations, in some embodiments, the uncovered flightsadjustment module 46 may provide recommendations using all disruptedcrews in determining whether to assign a crew to an uncovered flight ifa specific crew could rerouted to cover the uncovered flights in time.

Referring to FIG. 7, an example flow chart of a method 400 using theairline operations system 10 is now discussed. At block 410, the flightrecovery module 42 receives, using the processor 26 and the memorycomponent 28, a request for an airline recovery flight solution neededto modify an original airline schedule to meet new constraints imposedby one or more disruptions from an airline scheduling module. In one ormore embodiments, an originally scheduled crew pairing may include oneor more crew duty periods or crew pairings that were originallyscheduled to cover all of the airline flights for a specific period oftime prior to the occurrence to the one or more disruptive events. Apassenger connection may include a start or origin connection ofpassenger flight or itinerary may and one or more connecting flightsegments to reach a destination. A passenger misconnection may includeone or more breaks in the passenger's original flight itinerary or oneor more connecting flights.

At block 420, the flight recovery module 42 generates a crew andpassenger friendly objective function that penalizes delayed flightsthat breaks one or more original crew-pairings and one or more originalpassenger connections associated with the original airline schedulingsolution. A user (e.g. administrator) or another entity (e.g. airline)may input the objective function may in order to preset one or moreobjective values. In one or more embodiments, the crew friendlyobjective may consider one or more costs including flight delay costs,flight cancellation costs, and ferry aircraft costs. A ferry aircraft isan aircraft that needs to be moved without passengers from one airport14 to another airport 14 in order to satisfy a flight recovery solution.Thus, ferry aircraft costs relate to costs associated with flying theone or more aircrafts 12 from one airport 14 to another airport 14without passengers in order to satisfy the flight recovery solution.

In some embodiments, the flight recovery module 42 may generate one ormore flight recovery scenarios to determine a crew and passengerfriendly flight recovery solution for the airline recovery schedulingsolution by generating a flight recovery solution that is focused onminimizing a number of breaks in original or existing crew pairings anda number of breaks in original or existing passenger connections. Insome embodiments, a crew-friendly flight recovery solution may include aflight recovery solution with the least amount of breaks in an originalcrew pairing of the original airline scheduling solution prior to theone or more disruptions. In one or more embodiments, apassenger-friendly flight recovery solution may include a flightrecovery solution having a least possible number of breaks in originalpassenger connections of the original airline scheduling solution priorto the one or more disruptions.

In one or more embodiments, the flight recovery module 42 may include acrew and passenger program modeling component (not shown) in order togenerate the one or more flight scenarios. In one embodiment, the crewand passenger friendly program modeling component may include computingthe flight recovery solution based on the minimal amount of breaks inoriginal crew pairings and the minimal amount of breaks in originalpassenger connections of the original airline scheduling solution. Morespecifically, in one or more embodiments, the crew and passengerfriendly program modeling component may include a mathematicaloptimization model. In some embodiments, the mathematical optimizationmodel may be formulated using a network flow math program, such as amixed integer linear program solver. In some embodiments, the mixedinteger linear program solver may include an objective function and oneor more constraints to solve for the flight recovery solution. In one ormore embodiments, the mixed integer linear program solver may minimize acollection of costs including flight delays, flight cancellations, addedflights, swapped flights, and added ferries. In some embodiments, theflight recovery module 42 may generate the objective function thatpenalizes flights delays, flight cancellations, tail swaps, aircraftferries, crew-pairing violations, and/or passenger misconnections.

Additionally, the objective function may be subject to one or more ofthe following constraints regarding crew pairings: assigning a costamount to each delayed flight having one or more original crew pairingsbreaks, assigning a cost amount to each delayed flight without breakingthe one or more original crew pairings, and increasing the cost amountto each delayed flight having broken crew pairings as a number of brokencrew pairings increases. The cost amount assigned to the each delayedflight without breaking crew pairings is selected to be substantiallyhigher than the cost amount assigned to the each delayed flight withbroken crew pairings in order to discourage the network math programsolver from using or selecting flights that break crew pairings andpromote and encourage flights that with minimal or no breaks in originalcrew pairings.

Likewise, the objective function may also be subject to one or more ofthe following constraints related to the one or more passengermisconnections: assigning a cost amount to each delayed flight havingone or more passenger misconnections, assigning a cost amount to eachdelayed flight without having the one or more passenger connections andthe cost amount for each delayed flight with one or more passengermisconnections must be greater than the cost amount for each delayedflight without the one or more passenger misconnections.

At block 430, the flight recovery module 42 formulates a flight recoverysolution using the objective, the constraints, and a modeling componentto simulate one or more scenarios such that the flight recovery solutionis based on a scenario with a minimal cost of a collection of flightdelay costs, flight cancellation costs, and ferry costs. The flightrecovery module 42 may retrieve the flight data from the world data filedatabase 36 and the constraints from the constraints database 34 inorder to use in the modeling component to determine the flight recoverysolution. The flight recovery solution may include one or morerescheduled delayed flights, one or more canceled flights, and one ormore ferried aircrafts to transfer between locations to position one ormore aircrafts 12 to be assigned for one or more scheduled flights.

In doing so, in some embodiments, the flight recovery module 42 maydelay one or more previously scheduled flights and determine a delayamount associated with delayed flights. In one embodiment, the flightrecovery module 42 may determine whether any one or more of thedisrupted flights may be canceled, and if necessary, cancel the one ormore disrupted flights. In at least one embodiment, the flight recoverymodule 42 may swap any aircraft with another aircraft. In oneembodiment, the flight recovery module 42 may determine whether one ormore ferries may be used. In some embodiments, the flight recoverymodule 42 may add one or more flights to the flight recovery solution.In other words, based on the flight data, the constraints and theobjective function, the flight recovery module 42 may reschedule one ormore disrupted flights by delaying, cancelling, swapping, and orferrying the one or more disrupted flights.

In one or more embodiments, using the data for flight delays, flightcancellations, aircraft swaps, ferries and the constraints, the flightrecovery module 42 may also configure one or more cost alternativesolutions for delaying or canceling the one or more disrupted flights.In one embodiment, the costs may include flight costs and crew costs. Insome embodiments, the flight costs may include airport cost of approachand taxing, service costs, an average maintenance costs for a type ofaircraft, fuel cost, etc. In one or more embodiments, the crew costs mayinclude an average or real salary cost of select crews, hotel costs, andextra-crew travel costs. Knowing each of the above mentioned costsallows the flight recovery module 42 to select the most cost efficientand productive flight recovery solution that provides for the mostefficient use of resources in order to recover from the one or moredisruptions to the original airline scheduling solution. One of thegoals of an airline is to run a cost efficient model. Thus, in general,a most cost effective model based on selecting flights with the leastamount of breaks in original crew pairings and the least amount ofbreaks in original passenger connections may be selected as the flightrecovery solution.

After solving the flight recovery solution, the flight recovery module42 transmits the flight recovery solution and a request for a crewrecovery solution to the crew recovery module 44. At block 440, the crewrecovery module 44 generates the crew recovery solution based on theflight recovery solution. More specifically, the crew recovery module 44assigns one or more disrupted crews to the one or more rescheduleflights to determine the crew recovery solution in some embodiments. Inone or more embodiments, the crew recovery module 44 may assigndisrupted and/or reserved airline crews to the rescheduled flights toproduce a crew recovery solution. In at least one embodiment, thescheduled airline crew may include any crew directly affected by theoccurrence of the one or more disruptive events.

The crew recovery solution may include covered and uncovered flights. Acovered flight may include a rescheduled flight with an assigned crew.On the other hand, an uncovered flight may include a rescheduled flightwithout an assigned crew. The crew recovery module 44 may transmit thecrew recovery solution to the uncovered flights adjustment module 46 atblock 450.

At block 450, the uncovered flights adjustment module 46 receives thecrew recovery solution and determines whether the crew recovery solutionis feasible. If the crew recovery solution includes uncovered flights,then the uncovered flights adjustment module 46 may determine that thecrew recovery solution is not feasible because a rescheduled flightwithout an assigned crew cannot be flown. If the crew recovery solutionincludes only covered flights, then the uncovered flights adjustmentmodule 46 may determine that the crew recovery solution is feasiblebecause all of the rescheduled flights can be flown because each flighthas an assigned crew.

Thus, at block 450, a determination is made of whether the crew recoverysolution is feasible. If yes, then proceed to block 460. If no, thenproceed to block 480. At block 480, the uncovered flights adjustmentmodule 46 optimally determines which uncovered flights to delay orcancel and transmits a recommendation and request to re-solve orformulate a subsequent flight recovery solution based on therecommendations and the object function. After the uncovered flightsadjustment module 46 generates the recommendation, the uncovered flightsadjustment module 46 transmits the recommendation and a subsequentrequest for the airline recovery scheduling solution and the methodproceed to again to block 430 for further processing.

At block 460, the passenger recovery module 48 receives the crewrecovery module 44. In return, the passenger recovery module 48 maysolve and generate the passenger recovery solution by assigningdisrupted passengers to the covered flights and proceed to block 470. Atblock 470, the passenger recovery module 48 may compile and generate theairline recovery scheduling solution based on the flight, crew andpassenger recovery solutions and transmit the airline recoveryscheduling solution to the one or more airports 14 and the one or moreaircrafts 12.

It is noted that the terms “substantially” and “about” may be utilizedherein to represent the inherent degree of uncertainty that may beattributed to any quantitative comparison, value, measurement, or otherrepresentation. These terms are also utilized herein to represent thedegree by which a quantitative representation may vary from a statedreference without resulting in a change in the basic function of thesubject matter at issue.

While particular embodiments have been illustrated and described herein,it should be understood that various other changes and modifications maybe made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimedsubject matter. Moreover, although various aspects of the claimedsubject matter have been described herein, such aspects need not beutilized in combination. It is therefore intended that the appendedclaims cover all such changes and modifications that are within thescope of the claimed subject matter.

Further aspects of the invention are provided by the subject matter ofthe following clauses:

1. A method for generating an airline recovery scheduling solution inresponse to an airline scheduling disruption, the method comprising:receiving, by a processing device, an airline recovery schedulingsolution request to modify an original airline schedule operationssolution based on one or more disruptive events associated with one ormore airline flights, wherein the one or more disruptive events causesthe airline scheduling disruption; computing, by the processing device,a flight recovery solution, based on the one or more disruptive events,to reschedule one or more disrupted flights; generating, by theprocessing device, a crew recovery solution using the flight recoverysolution by assigning one or more flight crews to one or morerescheduled disrupted flights, wherein the crew recovery solutionincludes one or more covered flights and one or more uncovered flights;iteratively generating, by the processing device, one or morerecommendations to delay or cancel the one or more uncovered flightsuntil a best recovery solution is obtained during an iteration period,wherein the best recovery solution includes a crew recovery solutionwith a least amount of uncovered flights over the iteration period;iteratively generating, by the processing device, one or more subsequentflight recovery solutions and one or more subsequent crew recoverysolutions based on the one or more recommendations to delay or cancelthe one or more uncovered flights in order to solve for the bestrecovery solution; generating, by the processing device, a passengerrecovery solution based on the best recovery solution and re-assigningone or more disrupted passengers to the one or more rescheduleddisrupted flights; and configuring, by the processing device, theairline recovery scheduling solution using the best recovery solution,the flight recovery solution, and the passenger recovery solution inorder to determine and transmit the airline recovery scheduling solutionto one or more airports with the one or more disrupted flights.

2. The method of any preceding clause, wherein iteratively generating,by the processing device, the one or more recommendations furthercomprises generating at least one or more modeling scenarios to computethe one or more recommendations to delay or cancel the one or moreuncovered flights based on a minimal cost collection of flight delaycosts, flight cancellation costs, and deadheading costs.

3. The method of any preceding clause, wherein iteratively generating,by the processing device, the one or more recommendations furthercomprises: identifying, by the processing device, all of the one or moreuncovered flights of a current crew recovery solution; obtaining, by theprocessing device, a delay value associated with each of the one or moreuncovered flights; incrementing, by the processing device, the delayvalue of each of the one or more uncovered flights by a predeterminedincrement value; and generating, by the processing device, the one ormore recommendations to delay the one or more uncovered flights with anincremented delay value for each of the one or more uncovered flightsalong with a request for a subsequent airline recovery schedulingsolution.

4. The method of any preceding clause, wherein iteratively generating,by the processing device, the one or more recommendations furthercomprises: identifying, by the processing device, the one or moreuncovered flights of a current crew recovery solution; generating, bythe processing device, a list of the one or more reserve and standbycrews; assigning, by the processing device, the one or more reserve andstandby crews to the one or more uncovered flights; and generating, bythe processing device, the one or more recommendations to delay each ofone or more previously uncovered flights assigned with the one or morereserve and standby crews along with a request for a subsequent airlinerecovery scheduling solution.

5. The method of any preceding clause, further comprising: generating alist of deadhead flights; determining whether each of the one or morereserve and standby crews can be assigned with deadheading to an originstation of the one or more uncovered flights; determining whether eachof the one or more reserve and standby crews can be assigned withoutdeadheading to the origin station of the one or more uncovered flights;determining if any of the one or more reserve and standby crews cannotbe assigned with or without deadheading to the origin station of the oneor more uncovered flights; assigning the one or more reserve and standbycrews that can be assigned to the one or more uncovered flights with orwithout deadheading to the origin station of the one or more uncoveredflights; and generating, by the processing device, the request for asubsequent airline recovery scheduling solution using the one or morerecommendations to delay any of the one or more uncovered flightsassigned with the one or more reserve and standby crews.

6. The method of any preceding clause, wherein generating, by theprocessing device, the one or more recommendations further comprisescanceling at least one of the one or more uncovered flights not assignedwith any of the one or more reserve and standby crews.

7. The method of any preceding clause, wherein iteratively generatingthe one or more recommendations further comprises generating one or moremodeling scenarios to compute the one or more recommendation to delay orcancel the one or more uncovered flights based on a minimal costcollection of flight delay costs, flight cancellation costs, anddeadheading costs.

8. A disruption management module comprising: a flight recovery moduleconfigured to receive a request for an airline recovery schedulingsolution from an airline scheduling system and compute a flight recoverysolution based on one or more disruptive events and reschedule one ormore disrupted flights; a crew recovery module in communication with theflight recovery module, the crew recovery module configured to receivethe flight recovery solution to solve for a crew recovery solution byassigning one or more crews to one or more rescheduled disrupted flight,the crew recovery solution including one or more covered flights and oneor more uncovered flights; an uncovered flights adjustment module incommunication with the crew recovery module and configured to receivethe crew recovery solution, wherein the uncovered flights adjustmentmodule iteratively generates one or more recommendations to delay orcancel the one or more uncovered flight until a best recovery solutionis obtained during an iteration period, wherein the best recoverysolution includes a crew recovery solution with a least amount ofuncovered flights over the iteration period, wherein the flight recoverymodule and the crew recovery module iteratively generate one or moresubsequent flight recovery solutions and one or more subsequent crewrecovery solutions based on the recommendation to delay or cancel theone or more uncovered flights in order to solve for the best recoverysolution; and a passenger recovery module in communication with the crewrecovery module to receive the best recovery solution to generate apassenger recovery solution and re-assign one or more disruptedpassengers to the one or more rescheduled disrupted flights of the bestrecovery solution in order to configure the airline recovery schedulingsolution and transmit the airline recovery scheduling solution to one ormore airports with the one or more disrupted flights.

9. The disruption management module of any preceding clause, wherein theuncovered flights adjustment module is further configured to: identifyall of the one or more uncovered flights of a current crew recoverysolution, obtain, by a processing device, a delay value associated witheach of the one or more uncovered flights; increment the delay value ofeach of the one or more uncovered flights by a predetermined incrementvalue; and generate a recommendation to delay of each of the one or moreuncovered flight with an incremented delay value for each of the one ormore uncovered flights along with a request for a subsequent airlinerecovery scheduling solution.

10. The disruption management module of any preceding clause, whereinthe uncovered flights adjustment module is further configured to:identify the one or more uncovered flight of a current crew recoverysolution; generate a list of the one or more reserve and standby crews;assign the one or more reserve and standby crews to the one or moreuncovered flights; and generate a recommendation to delay each of one ormore previously uncovered flights assigned with the one or more reserveand standby crews along with a request for a subsequent airline recoveryscheduling solution.

11. The disruption management module of any preceding clause, whereinthe uncovered flights adjustment module is further configured to:generate a list of deadhead flights; determine whether each of the oneor more reserve and standby crews can be assigned with deadheading to anorigin station of the one or more uncovered flights; determine whethereach of the one or more reserve and standby crews can be assignedwithout deadheading to the origin station of the one or more uncoveredflights; determine if any of the one or more reserve and standby crewscannot be assigned with or without deadheading to the origin station ofthe one or more uncovered flights; assign the one or more reserve andstandby crews that can be assigned to the one or more uncovered flightswith or without deadheading to the origin station of the one or moreuncovered flights; and generate the request for a subsequent airlinerecovery scheduling solution using a recommendation to delay any of theone or more uncovered flights assigned with the one or more reserve andstandby crews.

12. The disruption management module of any preceding clause, whereinthe uncovered flights adjustment module is further configured togenerate a recommendation to cancel any of the one or more uncoveredflights not assigned with any of the one or more reserve and standbycrews.

13. The disruption management module of any preceding clause, whereinthe uncovered flights adjustment module is further configured togenerate at least one or more modeling scenarios to compute therecommendation to delay or cancel the one or more uncovered flightsbased on a minimal cost collection of flight delay costs, flightcancellation costs, and deadheading costs.

14. An airline operations system comprising: an airline schedulingmodule configured to compute and transmit an airline schedule operationssolution to at least one airport having an aircraft to follow a flightplan associated with the airline schedule operations solution andrequest an airline recovery scheduling solution upon a detection of oneor more disruptions to one or more airline flights; and a disruptionmanagement module in communication with the airline scheduling module toreceive the request for the airline recovery schedule solution, thedisruption management module configured to compute the airline recoveryscheduling solution using a recovery solution formulated based on one ormore iteratively generated flight recovery solutions and one or moresequentially generated crew recovery solutions, wherein the one or moreiteratively generated flight recovery solutions is configured using oneor more iteratively generated recommendations to delay or cancel one ormore uncovered flights of one or more crew recovery solutions in orderto solve for a best recovery solution, and wherein the disruptionmanagement module is further configured to transmit the airline recoveryscheduling solution to the airline scheduling module.

15. The airline operations system of any preceding clause, wherein thedisruption management module is further configured to: identify all ofthe one or more uncovered flights from each associated crew recoverysolution; obtain a delay value associated with each of the one or moreuncovered flights; increment the delay value of each of the one or moreuncovered flights by a predetermined increment value; and generate arecommendation to delay of each of the one or more uncovered flight withan incremented delay value for each of the one or more uncovered flightsalong with a request for a subsequent airline recovery schedulingsolution.

16. The airline operations system of any preceding clause, wherein thedisruption management module is further configured to: identify the oneor more uncovered flight of a current crew recovery solution; generate alist of the one or more reserve and standby crews; assign the one ormore reserve and standby crews to the one or more uncovered flights; andgenerate a recommendation to delay each of one or more previouslyuncovered flights assigned with the one or more reserve and standbycrews along with a request for a subsequent airline recovery schedulingsolution.

17. The airline operations system of any preceding clause, wherein thedisruption management module is further configured to: generate a listof deadhead flights; determine whether each of the one or more reserveand standby crews can be assigned with deadheading to an origin stationof the one or more uncovered flights; determine whether each of the oneor more reserve and standby crews can be assigned without deadheading tothe origin station of the one or more uncovered flights; determine ifany of the one or more reserve and standby crews cannot be assigned withor without deadheading to the origin station of the one or moreuncovered flights; assign the one or more reserve and standby crews thatcan be assigned to the one or more uncovered flights with or withoutdeadheading to the origin station of the one or more uncovered flights;and generate the request for a subsequent airline recovery schedulingsolution using a recommendation to delay any of the one or moreuncovered flights assigned with the one or more reserve and standbycrews.

18. The airline operations system of any preceding clause, wherein thedisruption management module is further configured to generate arecommendation to cancel any of the one or more uncovered flights notassigned with any of the one or more reserve and standby crews.

19. The airline operations system of any preceding clause, wherein thedisruption management module is further configured to generate at leastone or more modeling scenarios to search for the best recovery solutionin order to compute the recommendation of delaying or cancelling the oneor more uncovered flights based on a minimal cost collection of flightdelay costs, flight cancellation costs, and deadheading costs.

20. The airline operation system of any preceding clause, whereingenerating the at least one modeling scenarios comprises searching forthe best recovery solution with a lowest amount of cancellations and aminimum amount of delayed flights.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for generating an airline recoveryscheduling solution in response to an airline scheduling disruption, themethod comprising; receiving, by a processing device, an airlinerecovery scheduling solution request to modify an original airlineschedule operations solution based on one or more disruptive eventsassociated with one or more airline flights, wherein the one or moredisruptive events causes the airline scheduling disruption; computing,by the processing device, a flight recovery solution, based on the oneor more disruptive events, to reschedule one or more disrupted flights;generating, by the processing device, a crew recovery solution using theflight recovery solution by assigning one or more flight crews to one ormore rescheduled disrupted flights, wherein the crew recovery solutionincludes one or more covered flights and one or more uncovered flights;iteratively generating, by the processing device, one or morerecommendations to delay or cancel the one or more uncovered flightsuntil a best recovery solution is obtained during an iteration period,wherein the best recovery solution includes a crew recovery solutionwith a least amount of uncovered flights over the iteration period;iteratively generating, by the processing device, one or more subsequentflight recovery solutions and one or more subsequent crew recoverysolutions based on the one or more recommendations to delay or cancelthe one or more uncovered flights in order to solve for the bestrecovery solution; generating, by the processing device, a passengerrecovery solution based on the best recovery solution and re-assigningone or more disrupted passengers to the one or more rescheduleddisrupted flights; and configuring, by the processing device, theairline recovery scheduling solution using the best recovery solution,the flight recovery solution, and the passenger recovery solution inorder to determine and transmit the airline recovery scheduling solutionto one or more airports with the one or more disrupted flights.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein iteratively generating, by the processingdevice, the one or more recommendations further comprises generating atleast one or more modeling scenarios to compute the one or morerecommendations to delay or cancel the one or more uncovered flightsbased on a minimal cost collection of flight delay costs, flightcancellation costs, and deadheading costs.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein iteratively generating, by the processing device, the one ormore recommendations further comprises: identifying, by the processingdevice, all of the one or more uncovered flights of a current crewrecovery solution; obtaining, by the processing device, a delay valueassociated with each of the one or more uncovered flights; incrementing,by the processing device, the delay value of each of the one or moreuncovered flights by a predetermined increment value; and generating, bythe processing device, the one or more recommendations to delay the oneor more uncovered flights with an incremented delay value for each ofthe one or more uncovered flights along with a request for a subsequentairline recovery scheduling solution.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereiniteratively generating, by the processing device, the one or morerecommendations further comprises: identifying, by the processingdevice, the one or more uncovered flights of a current crew recoverysolution; generating, by the processing device, a list of the one ormore reserve and standby crews; assigning, by the processing device, theone or more reserve and standby crews to the one or more uncoveredflights; and generating, by the processing device, the one or morerecommendations to delay each of one or more previously uncoveredflights assigned with the one or more reserve and standby crews alongwith a request for a subsequent airline recovery scheduling solution. 5.The method of claim 4, further comprising: generating a list of deadheadflights; determining whether each of the one or more reserve and standbycrews can be assigned with deadheading to an origin station of the oneor more uncovered flights; determining whether each of the one or morereserve and standby crews can be assigned without deadheading to theorigin station of the one or more uncovered flights; determining if anyof the one or more reserve and standby crews cannot be assigned with orwithout deadheading to the origin station of the one or more uncoveredflights; assigning the one or more reserve and standby crews that can beassigned to the one or more uncovered flights with or withoutdeadheading to the origin station of the one or more uncovered flights;and generating, by the processing device, the request for a subsequentairline recovery scheduling solution using the one or morerecommendations to delay any of the one or more uncovered flightsassigned with the one or more reserve and standby crews.
 6. The methodof claim 5, wherein generating, by the processing device, the one ormore recommendations further comprises canceling at least one of the oneor more uncovered flights not assigned with any of the one or morereserve and standby crews.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein iterativelygenerating the one or more recommendations further comprises generatingone or more modeling scenarios to compute the one or more recommendationto delay or cancel the one or more uncovered flights based on a minimalcost collection of flight delay costs, flight cancellation costs, anddeadheading costs.
 8. A disruption management module, comprising: aflight recovery module configured to receive a request for an airlinerecovery scheduling solution from an airline scheduling system andcompute a flight recovery solution based on one or more disruptiveevents and reschedule one or more disrupted flights; a crew recoverymodule in communication with the flight recovery module, the crewrecovery module configured to receive the flight recovery solution tosolve for a crew recovery solution by assigning one or more crews to oneor more rescheduled disrupted flight, the crew recovery solutionincluding one or more covered flights and one or more uncovered flights;an uncovered flights adjustment module in communication with the crewrecovery module and configured to receive the crew recovery solution,wherein the uncovered flights adjustment module iteratively generatesone or more recommendations to delay or cancel the one or more uncoveredflight until a best recovery solution is obtained during an iterationperiod, wherein the best recovery solution includes a crew recoverysolution with a least amount of uncovered flights over the iterationperiod, wherein the flight recovery module and the crew recovery moduleiteratively generate one or more subsequent flight recovery solutionsand one or more subsequent crew recovery solutions based on therecommendation to delay or cancel the one or more uncovered flights inorder to solve for the best recovery solution; and a passenger recoverymodule in communication with the crew recovery module to receive thebest recovery solution to generate a passenger recovery solution andre-assign one or more disrupted passengers to the one or morerescheduled disrupted flights of the best recovery solution in order toconfigure the airline recovery scheduling solution and transmit theairline recovery scheduling solution to one or more airports with theone or more disrupted flights.
 9. The disruption management module ofclaim 8, wherein the uncovered flights adjustment module is furtherconfigured to: identify all of the one or more uncovered flights of acurrent crew recovery solution, obtain, by a processing device, a delayvalue associated with each of the one or more uncovered flights;increment the delay value of each of the one or more uncovered flightsby a predetermined increment value; and generate a recommendation todelay of each of the one or more uncovered flight with an incrementeddelay value for each of the one or more uncovered flights along with arequest for a subsequent airline recovery scheduling solution.
 10. Thedisruption management module of claim 8, wherein the uncovered flightsadjustment module is further configured to: identify the one or moreuncovered flight of a current crew recovery solution; generate a list ofthe one or more reserve and standby crews; assign the one or morereserve and standby crews to the one or more uncovered flights; andgenerate a recommendation to delay each of one or more previouslyuncovered flights assigned with the one or more reserve and standbycrews along with a request for a subsequent airline recovery schedulingsolution.
 11. The disruption management module of claim 10, wherein theuncovered flights adjustment module is further configured to: generate alist of deadhead flights; determine whether each of the one or morereserve and standby crews can be assigned with deadheading to an originstation of the one or more uncovered flights; determine whether each ofthe one or more reserve and standby crews can be assigned withoutdeadheading to the origin station of the one or more uncovered flights;determine if any of the one or more reserve and standby crews cannot beassigned with or without deadheading to the origin station of the one ormore uncovered flights; assign the one or more reserve and standby crewsthat can be assigned to the one or more uncovered flights with orwithout deadheading to the origin station of the one or more uncoveredflights; and generate the request for a subsequent airline recoveryscheduling solution using a recommendation to delay any of the one ormore uncovered flights assigned with the one or more reserve and standbycrews.
 12. The disruption management module of claim 11, wherein theuncovered flights adjustment module is further configured to generate arecommendation to cancel any of the one or more uncovered flights notassigned with any of the one or more reserve and standby crews.
 13. Thedisruption management module of claim 11, wherein the uncovered flightsadjustment module is further configured to generate at least one or moremodeling scenarios to compute the recommendation to delay or cancel theone or more uncovered flights based on a minimal cost collection offlight delay costs, flight cancellation costs, and deadheading costs.14. An airline operations system comprising: an airline schedulingmodule configured to compute and transmit an airline schedule operationssolution to at least one airport having an aircraft to follow a flightplan associated with the airline schedule operations solution andrequest an airline recovery scheduling solution upon a detection of oneor more disruptions to one or more airline flights; and a disruptionmanagement module in communication with the airline scheduling module toreceive the request for the airline recovery schedule solution, thedisruption management module configured to compute the airline recoveryscheduling solution using a recovery solution formulated based on one ormore iteratively generated flight recovery solutions and one or moresequentially generated crew recovery solutions, wherein the one or moreiteratively generated flight recovery solutions is configured using oneor more iteratively generated recommendations to delay or cancel one ormore uncovered flights of one or more crew recovery solutions in orderto solve for a best recovery solution, and wherein the disruptionmanagement module is further configured to transmit the airline recoveryscheduling solution to the airline scheduling module.
 15. The airlineoperations system of claim 14, wherein the disruption management moduleis further configured to: identify all of the one or more uncoveredflights from each associated crew recovery solution; obtain a delayvalue associated with each of the one or more uncovered flights;increment the delay value of each of the one or more uncovered flightsby a predetermined increment value; and generate a recommendation todelay of each of the one or more uncovered flight with an incrementeddelay value for each of the one or more uncovered flights along with arequest for a subsequent airline recovery scheduling solution.
 16. Theairline operations system of claim 15, wherein the disruption managementmodule is further configured to: identify the one or more uncoveredflight of a current crew recovery solution; generate a list of the oneor more reserve and standby crews; assign the one or more reserve andstandby crews to the one or more uncovered flights; and generate arecommendation to delay each of one or more previously uncovered flightsassigned with the one or more reserve and standby crews along with arequest for a subsequent airline recovery scheduling solution.
 17. Theairline operations system of claim 14, wherein the disruption managementmodule is further configured to: generate a list of deadhead flights;determine whether each of the one or more reserve and standby crews canbe assigned with deadheading to an origin station of the one or moreuncovered flights; determine whether each of the one or more reserve andstandby crews can be assigned without deadheading to the origin stationof the one or more uncovered flights; determine if any of the one ormore reserve and standby crews cannot be assigned with or withoutdeadheading to the origin station of the one or more uncovered flights;assign the one or more reserve and standby crews that can be assigned tothe one or more uncovered flights with or without deadheading to theorigin station of the one or more uncovered flights; and generate therequest for a subsequent airline recovery scheduling solution using arecommendation to delay any of the one or more uncovered flightsassigned with the one or more reserve and standby crews.
 18. The airlineoperations system of claim 14, wherein the disruption management moduleis further configured to generate a recommendation to cancel any of theone or more uncovered flights not assigned with any of the one or morereserve and standby crews.
 19. The airline operations system of claim14, wherein the disruption management module is further configured togenerate at least one or more modeling scenarios to search for the bestrecovery solution in order to compute the recommendation of delaying orcancelling the one or more uncovered flights based on a minimal costcollection of flight delay costs, flight cancellation costs, anddeadheading costs.
 20. The airline operation system of claim 19, whereingenerating the at least one modeling scenarios comprises searching forthe best recovery solution with a lowest amount of cancellations and aminimum amount of delayed flights.